This article is not to justify what he did, nor argue his guilt or innocence but to give reasons, between his talent and the situation he is in could put him in a prime spot to make a massive comeback.

The Case for Deshaun Watson to be Comeback Player of the Year

The first player I would like to discuss is Deshaun Watson. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two and a half years, you know the issues that Watson has been dealing with. I will not go through the details of the off-the-field issues that he was dealing with. The main fact is that Deshaun Watson did not play football for a little over two years, on top of receiving an 11-game suspension from the NFL. He did not return to action until week 12 of the 2022 NFL season.

The Wonder Years

Before the last few games we saw from Watson last year, he was an elite talent. He was a smart quarterback with an outstanding arm and a running upside that he could also rely on when needed. The last full season Watson had with the Houston Texans was the best season in his career.

If you talk to people, a lot of them think that in the 2020 season, he still had DeAndre Hopkins as his alpha receiver, but Hopkins was traded to the Arizona Cardinals before the beginning of that season. Deshaun Watson posted a stat line of 382 completions on 544 attempts for a completion percentage of 70.2 for 4,823 yards and 33 touchdowns with only seven picks. He also posted 444 yards on the ground on 90 attempts and three touchdowns. If there were 17 games played two years ago, Watson would have more than likely surpassed 5,000 yards passing.

Six-Game Mirage of 2022

Fast forward to the last six games of 2022 for Watson. He did not look good at all, but it was to be expected being out for two years and having little to almost no time with the team because of the 11-game suspension that he had to serve. Watson is still young at age 27 and has a lot left in the tank. There were some underlining good takes that you can look at from last season’s performance, for instance, he is still a willing runner posting 36 attempts for 175 yards and one touchdown in six games.

The Team Around Him in 2023

This year, Watson has arguably a better cast for success around him than he had with the Houston Texans. He’ll play with Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, who was acquired in the offseason for a second-round pick, star running back Nick Chubb, and the big rookie prospect Cedric Tillman.

Another huge thing Watson did not have in Houston that he has here is a great offensive line. PFF has the Cleveland Browns’ offensive line ranked number two in the NFL right under the great offensive line of the Philadelphia Eagles. The organization has really put Deshaun Watson in a position to succeed and this Cleveland Browns team will at the least be a very competitive opposition in the AFC North at least as long as they can get at least 80 percent of the vintage Deshaun Watson.

The Cleveland Browns have shown the confidence that they have in Mr. Watson. The money that they paid him shows that they believe in his talent. With the pieces around him, he is set up for success. Can Deshaun Watson take advantage of this second chance or has he been away too long and is “washed”?

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Wide Receivers Poised to Break Out in 2023

George Pickens

The first one is George Pickens. He is primed and ready to explode this season. Last season, he showed his big play ability in numerous plays. He showed the willingness and love to block and also showed how incredible his hands are. People also forget that in his last season at Georiga, he suffered an ACL injury that forced him to sit out all of the 2021 season in college.

That injury probably dropped him out of the first round in the draft but it did not stop him from providing the Pittsburgh Steelers with 52 receptions for 801 yards for four receiving touchdowns. Pickens’ 15.4 yards per reception stat is the biggest stat that stands out. He was and will be a big play machine in this offense.

Quarterbacks

Last season, we saw the change at the quarterback position as well. Mitchell Trubisky started the season as the starter but ended up being passed on to Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett didn’t have the best season — it actually wasn’t good at all — but we have seen the growth after the bye week when he began to protect the ball a whole lot better. If he makes a big step this season, then that will also help Pickens progress.

Offensive Line

After a few seasons with one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, the Steelers finally fixed that issue through the draft and free agency, which is going to give Pickett and Pickens the needed time to make even more huge plays down the field and targets are going to rise.

Drake London

The next rising star is Drake London. He is another big play receiver that had a pretty good college career at USC. Posting his best season in his senior year with 88 receptions for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns. London also had a good basketball career at USC as well.

Even though the Atlanta Falcons were a run-heavy team, they still made room to feed their number one receiver. Even though he spent most of his first season catching passes from Marcus Mariota, his best production came from Desmond Ridder, when he was given the keys to the Falcons’ offense at the end of the season.

Quarterback Upgrade

When the offense went from Mariota to Ridder the efficiency for London went up. His yards per reception went up and from the eye test, Ridder got London more involved. They will still be a run-first team but London will receive a lot of targets in this offense and with all of the weapons that are at Ridder’s disposal defenses won’t be able to just focus on London. Bottom line London is in line to have a great season.

Treylon Burks

The last wide receiver to discuss is Treylon Burks. Now, this breakout might be a little harder to see now because of the recent addition of DeAndre Hopkins. Now history has shown that the Tennesse Titans are the “graveyard” for older elite wide receivers. Is it just a coincidence or is there a little bit of truth behind it?

Before the addition of Hopkins, the hype around Burks was huge. Since the signing, a lot of the hype died down. Let’s not forget that it is Burks’ amazing athleticism that makes him a great wide receiver, the addition of Hopkins means that Burks should be drawing defenses number two cornerbacks which should be a big advantage for Burks.

Let’s also not forget that Burks had some injuries in the month of October that had him on the sideline for six games last season which hopefully won’t be a concern this season. Burks posted 33 receptions for 444 yards and one touchdown isn’t a bad stat line for a rookie in a heavy run-first offense, with only 11 games played.

Quarterback issues/Running Game

It looks like the Titans will be going with Ryan Tannehill to start the season. He seems to be the best choice while they keep developing Will Levis. This is better for Burks as well with him being the most experienced. The running game will still be a focal point of the offense but the carries will go down because of the new addition. Hopkins will get his but Burks’ talent will demand a lot of targets as well.

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The End of First Ballot Running Backs?

The Most Recent Hall of Fame Running backs

Emmitt Smith

Emmitt Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010. Smith’s career lasted for 15 years. 13 years were with the Dallas Cowboys, and his last two were with the Arizona Cardinals. Within that 15-year career, Smith only had one season when he did not at least have 240 carries, with his highest carry total coming in the 1995 season where he toted the ball 377 times, he also had some receiving chops. Within that 15-year career, he ran and received for 21,579 yards. There was only one season that Smith did not reach his average total of carries and that was 2003 when he suffered a shoulder injury that had him sidelined for most of the season. That season he only carried the ball a total of 90 times.

LaDainian Tomlinson

LaDainian Tomlinson is the next running back, inducted into the Hall of Fame as a first ballot. Tomlinson played 10 years as a workhorse running back throughout his entire career. He had 3,174 carries with 624 receptions, that was definitely a Hall of Fame career. His most work on the ground was in 2002, with 372 rushing attempts and 79 receptions.

Barry Sanders

Even the great Barry Sanders gave us 10 years and retired before his time, with him still having a lot of juice in the tank was also the workhorse back for his team as well. We all know what he did for the game of football. He gave us a lot of great years.

There are two things that these Hall of Fame running backs have in common.

1. They were workhorse backs for their respective teams their whole careers.
2. All three of these running backs played for 10+ years at a high level.

Adrian Peterson

The story is still out on Adrian Peterson, he meets both criteria that the two previous running backs that were just discussed have. He has played for 10 or more years and most of his career he has played at a high level as the workhorse back of his respective team. So he will more than likely be a first-ballot Hall of Fame running back, but we will see.

Why Will It Be a While Before We See Another First-ballot HOF Running Back?

Longevity

There are running backs in this era that have the talent that Emmitt, Barry, and LaDaninan had, we will just never see the numbers because most running backs slow down by their sixth or seventh year on average. Nowadays if a running back gives you 8 years then that is considered a long career for a running back.

Why?

It seems that defenses have gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster than in the previous era of football. Running backs like Dalvin Cook, that have elite talent and get a lot of carries can give you six years of workhorse value and give you elite seasons but can never sustain that type of workload through a 10-year career. As you can see right now, Cook is waiting for a job as we speak and it more than likely will not be a workhorse role like we have been used to seeing with him, but we shall see.

Ezekiel Elliot has been the workhorse back for most of his career with the Cowboys as well and has given us elite production, but for the past two years, he has been sharing a backfield with Tony Pollard on top of the obvious decline in his explosiveness that he has shown throughout the early part of his career. Elliott has also only given us seven years of workhorse seasons.

There is one outlier, that could beat the odds and hit the mark of the Hall of Fame running backs I have discussed, and that’s Derrick Henry, but again we will have to wait and see.

Committee Backfields

Another reason why there probably will not be a Hall of Fame Running Back is because of teams having more than one running back getting carries. The fewer touches mean less wear and tear on a running back but also less production that a player can give. A player I would like to highlight in this scenario is Nick Chubb. He is a beast of a running back. In his career, he has given us an average of 5 or more yards a carry every year.

This should amount to a lot of yards, but the problem is that he has also shared the backfield for most of his career with Kareem Hunt. With Chubb sharing the backfield every season he has only eclipsed 300 carries one time. Can you imagine if he had the workload of Emmitt or Barry at five plus yards a carry where his yardage total would be at? This same scenario goes for a lot of other teams’ backfields around the NFL.

Again history shows us that the way to become a first-ballot Hall of Fame running back has to, of course, have the talent, and longevity, and also be the sole ball carrier in the team’s backfield. There are a few that are still out there that are on the right path but the way the running back market is right now, it’s not looking too promising. So will we ever see a First Ballot Hall of Fame running back again?

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Breaking Down the NFC North Division

Minnesota Vikings

First, we will make our way to Vikings land where this team seems to be the favorite right now.

This team has arguably the best receiver in the NFL right today. Justin Jefferson has proved from the time he stepped on the field that he belongs and he is here to stay, but is that enough? The Vikings did not think so and that’s why they went out and drafted Jordan Addison in the first round of this year’s NFL draft. Addison should come in and take a lot of that attention off of Jefferson, since the release of aging veteran Adam Thielen who is now playing for the Panthers. Right now that seems to be just what the doctor ordered since teams were doubling up their efforts to take Justin Jefferson out of the game.

The Dalvin Cook saga seems to have ended for the Minnesota Vikings since he has just been released, but where he ends up is another story. The rumors right now are still Miami. This now opens the door for Alexander Mattison to be next in line to try to fill the big shoes of Mr. Cook. Mattison has shown time and time again that he can fill in for Cook, and has done so admirably when Cook was injured, but can Mattison fill those shoes for a full season is the question. Ty Chandler, a second-year player, and seventh-round pick, DeWayne McBride, are also there to help if called upon. Both players had great final years of their college careers. 

Brian Flores has come in to fix that terrible defense from last season as defensive coordinator. He has a perfect resume, starting off as defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots in their last Super Bowl win, but they have lost their best pass rusher in Za’Darius Smith and also have a not-so-great secondary. Fixing this defense might be Flores’ biggest test yet but he is up to the task.

Chicago Bears

Next in the division is the Chicago Bears. Now the Bears have made a huge jump from last season to this season on paper, but will it be enough to take the division?

The team plans for Justin Fields to make a massive leap from last season to this season. With the upgrades on the offense, he has been given the talent to do so.

The Bears have a very formidable backfield with the additions of D’Onta Foreman and third-round rookie Roschon Johnson. Foreman has been a force since being given a second chance coming back from his early career Achilles injury. Johnson is a third-round rookie that would have started anywhere else but ended up playing behind the generational talent of Bijan Robinson. Alongside them is the longest-tenured Chicago Bear in the backfield Khalil Herbert, who has provided outstanding games in the absence of David Montgomery, who was recently lost to them in free agency.

Also, the additions of D.J. Moore, who was acquired in a trade with the Carolina Panthers to serve as the much-needed alpha in the wide receiver room, and fourth-round rookie speedster, Tyler Scott, will be there to help the development of Justin Fields. With massive upgrades to the offensive line and advancements in the defense, the Bears have definitely done their part in seeing to it they will be a problem in the NFC North.

Green Bay Packers

Next up is the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay has probably made the biggest and most impactful move in this division: the loss of future Hall Of Famer Aaron Rodgers. His departure has given four-year veteran Jordan Love his opportunity to see if he can lead the Green Bay Packers to a divisional title.

Love has been playing behind Rodgers since he became a pro. We are going to find out this upcoming season if all of that waiting has paid off.

The running back room has pretty much remained the same. They drafted a running back in this year’s draft but he’s nothing more than a depth piece playing behind AJ Dillon, who is expected to have huge positive regression this year, and the explosive veteran, Aaron Jones.

The wide receiver room took a huge loss two years ago with the departure of Pro Bowler Davante Adams but has also shown great promise with the addition of rookie wideout Christian Watson. He made huge strides in his rookie year posting 41 receptions for 611 yards and seven touchdowns. He will more than likely be the number-one receiver for Love coming into this season. Watson has shown a lot of explosiveness in his rookie season and will hopefully take another big leap coming into this season.

Romeo Doubs had his moments as well last season. A very good possession receiver, he missed some games last season due to injury but he still had some pretty solid numbers in his rookie campaign, posting 42 receptions for 425 yards and three touchdowns. They have also drafted rookie wideout Jayden Reed in the second round of this year’s draft. He has posted pretty good numbers in all four years of his college career. He will be competing against Doubs for that number two option for Love this season, it’s going to be a pretty interesting competition.

The “cheeseheads” also drafted rookie tight end Luke Musgrave out of Oregan State 42nd overall in this year’s draft. He is a very good pass-catching tight end and will serve as a good option for Love. Keep in mind that he did suffer a season-ending injury in his final year that will potentially slow down his progress a little this year. Plus, the history of rookie tight ends shows us that it takes a while for them to develop, but we will see.

Detroit Lions

Last but definitely not least we have the Detroit Lions. The Lions have been at the bottom of this division for a good little while until last season when they made significant moves to make their team a very formidable contender in this division. It has been a long time coming for this team.

It started two years ago with the Matthew Stafford trade for Jared Goff and some key draft picks. In that same year, they hired Dan Campbell, who has had a very positive effect on the team.

Since then comes Amon-Ra St. Brown, the firey wide receiver that has forced his way to the top of the wide receiver room from day one and has also become one of the elite wide receivers in the NFL. Last season, they also drafted the Alabama star field stretcher, Jameson Williams. If he can get on the field and stay on the field the team could possibly have a top 10 wide receiver duo. When he returns from his suspension, he will hit the ground running.

They continued with the addition of Iowa’s outstanding pass-catching tight end, Sam LaPorta, but, again, it normally takes a while for rookie tight ends. They did not stop there. Last year, they beefed up their defense by drafting Aidan Hutchinson, who produced 9.5 sacks in his rookie campaign. The running back room got a whole lot better this season with the addition of free agent David Montgomery and also the rookie star running back Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama.

This division looks to be a dogfight within, with not one of them gaining much ground over the others. There will not be a clear separator between them and the way it looks nothing will be determined right away. All four teams are making the necessary moves they need to win, so we will have to see who will reign supreme in the NFC North.

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The Two Most Interesting Backfields Heading into the 2023 NFL Season

Chicago Bears

Khalil Herbert

This backfield is very ambiguous right now. Who is going to be the guy behind Justin Fields? The Chicago Bears have a three-headed tandem as of right now, and there is a solid argument for any one of them. Khalil Herbert is the 2021 sixth-round pick that showed a lot of promise in the past seasons for the Bears. He stepped in while David Montgomery was injured and showed a lot of explosiveness and was a great producer for the team.

D’Onta Foreman

The team also added the big bruising journeyman, D’Onta Foreman. Foreman was drafted in 2017 in the third round but then suffered an Achilles injury that put him on the shelf for a while. His comeback story has definitely been an inspiring one. He played for the Titans where he filled in for the dominant force known as Derrick Henry after having a season-ending injury. He filled those shoes quite well that season. Which, in turn, got him a job in Carolina where he also performed very well.

Roschon Johnson

Finally, we have the promising 2023 third-round rookie, Roschon Johnson. Johnson played behind Bijan Robinson at Texas, who, more than likely, would have been the starter in any other collegiate backfield. When he was on the field, he carried the ball really well with the work he got. He’s great in pass protection and has very good passing chops for a bigger back. He could take a lot of work from this backfield. This backfield is going to be very interesting to watch and see how it unfolds and who emerges as the lead back.

New Orleans Saints

Jamaal Williams

Next, we will travel to “The Big Easy”. Jamaal Williams is the definition of the term “Steady Eddie”. He has been a coach’s dream player everywhere he has been. He does exactly what you want him to do on the field, he is a productive player, and is a solid pass-catching back. Has a good reputation everywhere he has been as a great locker room guy. On his former two teams, he has played a solid role splitting touches with the explosive Aaron Jones, and in his last landing spot, he split with D’Andre Swift. The team also paid him $12 Million for three years, so he will get work in that offense.

Alvin Kamara

The other running back in that offense is the household name, Alvin Kamara. Everyone knows his resume: Great running back, great between the tackles, awesome in the receiving game. His best years were with the future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees, and great coach and play caller, Sean Payton.

Since those two guys have been out of New Orleans, Kamara has not had the same type of production we are used to. He hasn’t been used much in the passing game, which is where he has made his money. The concern is how much he has left in the tank as a 27-year-old back. He also could miss half to all of this season with his pending charges and suspension.

If he is able to come back this year and play a full season, he is still going to have to fight off the rookie that the Saints just drafted and Williams, who will see some work even though Williams isn’t a spring chicken either.

Kendre Miller

Next up is the 2023 third-round pick, Kendre Miller. He could possibly be the main reason the Saints could move on from Kamara and be comfortable with it. With Kamara’s off-the-field issues, Miller should have a lot of work coming to him.

He is a six-foot, 206-pound back with a lot of power and explosiveness. In his three years with TCU, he tallied 2,410 rushing with 26 touchdowns to go with it, along with 29 catches for 229 yards and a receiving touchdown. His best season was last year when he amassed 1,399 yards on the ground.

His most impressive stat was his average yards per carry, in 2020 it was 7.2, in 2021, 7.5, and in 2022, 6.2. This is the rookie that could take Kamara’s job if he can capitalize on the opportunity that he will receive if Kamara has to miss any time this season.

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